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LET’S GET DIGITAL

Purists may argue that that a computer cannot replicate the experience of seeing the clothes in person, but KCD plans to augment the live-streaming with backstage footage, designer interviews, and behind-the-scenes information about the collections. Not that the events will be any less exclusive, of course; the democratization of Fashion Week this ain’t. “The password is just a replacement for your seat number,” Ed Filipowski, a co-president of KCD, told the New York Times. “To me, it’s not MTV, it’s not YouTube. It’s for the industry.”

KCD plans to augment the live-streaming with backstage footage and designer interviews.

What would this mean for the planet? Fewer cross-country plane emissions, for one, which would dramatically reduce the carbon footprint of the shows. Less extravagent sets and lower-capacity spaces will also be copacetic—well, for everyone other than Karl Lagerfeld, anyway.

We doubt the day will come when all fashion shows are virtual. For smaller designers and secondary lines without the financial wherewithal to mount their own online shows, however, the technology could keep them from being overlooked in favor of marquee names or, at the very least, appointments with the podiatrist.

I think it's fantastic that a lot of fashion houses have started to livestream their shows, allowing us "commoners" to see fashion shows the way that all the editors and celebrities do. My favorites so far are definitely Burberry's show and Academy of Art University's (over at http://www.academyart.edu/fashionshow/)
However, I'm not so sure about the live-stream-only format. Half the fun is observing the street fashion at these shows! Moving them to a purely digital form wouldn't be the same.